Jose Mourinho has said that he still wants Marcus Rashford to join up with England under-21s rather than the senior squad after the striker's latest heroics.
Manchester United striker Rashford made his first Premier League appearance of the season when he came off the bench for the final 20 minutes against Hull City on Saturday and he responded by scoring to seal a 1-0 win in injury time.
On Thursday, the 18-year-old had been named in the England under-21 squad despite appearing twice for the nation's senior team as a substitute at Euro 2016.
United manager Mourinho said: "I think, if he goes to the full squad, Sam [Allardyce, the manager] will put him on the bench. Can he help the [England] first team to win matches, like he is helping Man United? He can.
"But from a selfish point of view, just thinking about me and the evolution of my player, I prefer him to play matches with the under-21s. So I think it's very good for him to be on the pitch for 90 minutes with the under-21 squad.
"But Sam knows that, if he needs the kid, he has the kid. I think he has so many good strikers that, probably, this time he decided not to select him and we respect that and the kid goes to the under-21s with the best mentality because he wants to play football and he is going to play."
When asked if Rashford is better coming off the bench for United rather than starting, Mourinho replied: "No, I think top players are better on the pitch than on the bench but, coming against a tired [Hull] team that was trying to hold high-intensity waves of attacking football, he comes fresh, he comes sharp, and he gives them problems. But I think top players have to have more time on the pitch than on the bench."
The United manager also hit back when it was pointed out to him that Rashford is the first teenager to score a Premier League goal under his management.
Mourinho said: "Well, I have the youngest player ever to score a goal in a Champions League final. Carlos Alberto, with Porto, was 18 years old in the Champions League final [in 2004 against Monaco]. It depends on the quality of the players."
Mourinho also refused to get drawn into a discussion about whether or not Rashford is the best English teenager he has seen. The former Chelsea manager said: "I don't want to go in that direction. I just want to say that he is a very, very good player and a very, very good boy. He has a perfect head for an 18-year-old kid, very stable, not on the moon. He has everything."